resolv'd to do as well as he could without them Having therefore made an Honourable Peace with France and Spain he look'd into and so manag'd his small Revenue as to keep out of those Necessities whereof there was small Hopes of a Supply when run into By which means he kept a very Splendid Court yet withal as Regular no ways Profuse whatever our Libellers Cant and wholly free from such open Immoralities as have since not a little tended to Dabauching the whole Nation without any present Prospect of Reformation As God bless'd him with a fruitful Offspring so the Charge of several Royal Nurseries was considerable Neither was there any Prince in Europe made a better Figure by his Ministers in all Foreign Courts which must add to the Expence Yet these might be easily weather'd and every Thing else which came under Consideration but that of a Royal Navy which notwithstanding was absolutely Necessary both in respect of Trade and Reputation and his Revenue not being able to go thorough therewith put him upon that Expedient of Ship-Money which we have already spoke to and therefore shall only add that by the help of this most easy and reasonable Supply he kept a constant Guard in the English Channel clear'd the Seas of all Enemies and Encroaching Friends and Built the best Ships which to that Day ever Floated upon the Main and have been scarce out-done since I have hear'd some very knowing Persons in that way affirm that two of his First Rates the Royal Sovereign and the Prince might be a Pattern to the best Builders and the most sensible pay'd a Deference to them His Majesty was wont to say most Men had their Vanities and his was Building more especially Ships wherein as he might at Pleasure be pleasant with himself so he could not be Ignorant in how high a Measure it conduc'd both to his own Grandure and the Publick Good for by his means clearing the Coasts of all Little Enemies and having no great Ones abroad whilst most part of Europe besides were up to the Ears in Blood we continued the only Free-Traders in the World The Spaniard at War with Holland was glad to secure his Bullion in our Bottoms which being Coin'd here was of some Benefit to the Mint more to the Merchant who exchang'd it into Flanders either by Goods or Bills which made the greatest plenty of Coin was ever known in this Nation and upon the easiest most advantageous Terms without buying Gold too dear which may now be all other Trades keeping an equal Ballance therewith which made very constant and considerable Returns and a Return of Customs proportionable and they were the main Support of the many foremention'd Expences with several others not mention'd and all too little had there not been an exact Managment for this whole Revenue oftner fell short of Five Hundred Thousand per Annum than rose to Six when the Ship-Tax was most strictly Collected it could not reach Seven Yet herewith he liv'd like the King of Great Brittain at home both by Land and Sea was very Bountiful to his Sister and her Family abroad and seldom without some chargable Intrigue upon their Account in Germany and moreover when the Scotch Rebellion brake out had a Fund to raise an Army 't is pity it was not Greater to pay them quite on and the others off Neither was there less exactness in the Management of all other Affairs Iustice was most impartially Administred every Man's Liberty and Property secur'd to the utmost where they did not assume a Freedom of Speaking Treason and Acting Sedition upon which Account the Ministers of Iustice were stout enough to discharge their Duties and the honester Men for it however clamor'd against In all other things where a Legal Pretence could be made the People's Right had as great a Regard as the Prince's Prerogative both they and their Master abhor'd any thing of Trick or Iuggle His Ministers of State too were every one in their Way as able as these Men of Honour and Integrity as well as Knowledge who being so ill Treated for their good Endeavours to preserve the Government upon its Antient Constitution we deserve no more such Publick Spirits and perhaps God in Displeasure will forbear to send them The Universities never receiv'd more Gracious Incouragements than from this Good Prince and return'd his Favours with a proportionable Industry and Gratitude whereby the Church became Replenish'd with a Set of Men of such solid Parts sound Doctrine and steady Principles as when the Storm came upon that and the Crown together they adher'd to both with the most abstracted Considerations of Loyalty and Conscience any Age can Parallel they have found the Expedient of a greater Latitude since God grant it do not prove the Broad-Way In a Word never was there a better Prince nor happier People till the Devil of Sedition Privy Conspiracy and Rebellion so Hellishly possest all Three Kingdoms at once The sad Subject of our Second Part. A JUST DEFENCE OF THE Royal Martyr CHARLES I. PART II. LONDON Printed for Abel Roper at the Black-Boy over against St. Dunston's Church in Fleet-street 1699. A JUST DEFENCE OF THE Royal Martyr CHARLES I. PART II. CHAP. I. Of the Scotch Rebellion THat Observation of Tully is altogether like himself agreeable to his peircing Judgment both as to the nature of the Men and Things Nemo vir magnus sine aliquo afflatu Divino unquam fuit the sedate and upright temper of long experienc'd Soul's fail not to be bless'd with a kind of natural Inspiration an infallible guess in whatever prospect they make of Future Events or other considerable Undertakings especially as to great Revolutions of State and overturning of Governments which we find him most fatally intimating from the several contending Factions in their own Commonwealth And to bring no farther instances from abroad there were many Good Men amongst us who most Prophetically boded this dismal Storm we were now entring into long before it came I have heard from his Son that the Pious and Learned Sir Henry Spelman did frequently say with a sigh the Puritan would have his day and bring all to Confusion And the truly Andrew's in a private conversation and consult amongst some of his Brethren not long before his death did with an unusual Transport of Spirit not unlike the Prophets of Old foretell the miseries shortly to come upon the Church and particularly declare to Laud that his life would be Sacrific'd in her quarrel as likewise to another that he should suffer much but live to see her restor'd I shall add but one instance more of this kind which yet must be acknowledged most considerable the truly Judicious Hooker's Divining Spirit foretold to a year more than 40 before they came The sad desolations Schism and Sacrilege would bring upon us For after a general view and sorrowful complaint thereof he adds By this means they have brought to pass that as David
Covetous he withdrew his Favour by degrees as any Wise Man would have done unwilling to expose himself for an ill-plac'd Affection But when the Business of Overbury was discovered he detested it with the utmost Indignation of a good Christian a just Prince and ordered a Prosecution according to the Baseness of the Fact though after several Partisans had suffered the importunity of Relations and Country-Men first got a Repreive and at length a Pardon for him and his Eve the Temptress though it was many Years before the last was obtained and not many Months before the King's Death which 't is pity he did at all considering the solemn Protestations he had made that all concern'd in that Matter should suffer but what will not Importunity do especially coming from his own Country-Men This Court-Meteor being thus sunk down and disappearing the English Nobility about the King began to reflect upon the ill Influences it had and what worse its longer aboad in that Horison might have produc'd Hereupon they thought it their concern to take more care for the future and not suffer a second Foreign Page of as little Wit Good Nature or Manners to be Topt upon or rather over them in order whereunto they resolv'd to manage Matters so as an English Man might be Topt upon the King about which they had several Consults and several young Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber and other Places in their Eye but amongst all the rest George Villyers both for Person and Parts seem'd most promising him therefore having fix'd upon such Court intrigues were carry'd on as the King made choice of the Person they design'd And this is the true Origin of that great Man's Rise whatever impertinent Relations Roger Coke makes of his Mother decking him up and setting of him in the King's Eye when Ignoramus was Acted at Cambridge with many other as groundless and false Conjectures To be sure he no sooner appear'd upon the Publick Stage of Business and Address but the Expectation of all concern'd in his Advancement was not only answer'd but exceeded neither could they any where have made a better Choice among the Nobility there were scarce any to be found who would undertake such a Fatigue of Business or had Parts to go thorough with it and though there were some in a lower Sphere of more Reading and greater Experience yet few that equall'd him in Strength of Natural Parts dayly improv'd by consulting the most Knowing and Judicious in all the several Affairs which came before him whereby he brought things to a better Issue than could be expected from the most cry'd up Wisdom accompanied with a self-sufficient peremptoriness So that whatever Odiums he lay under as no Man ever lay under greater and indeed who could bear up against Common-Fame and a House of Commons yet more impartial Iudgments which consider'd things as they really were became surpris'd at so young a Man's falling to Business with so great Application his judicious Choice of fit Persons to every concern he engag'd them in and as Honourable Rewards upon their well Performance I have already mention'd his manage and improvement of the Navy as likewise how express his Replies were to their several Articles without any thing of a Rejoynder on the other side tho' he provok'd them thereto for 't is absolutely false that the King dissolv'd the Parliament on that Account as shall hereafter appear Neither was there more of Truth in that other Charge his inriching himself by the Crown which of all Imputations saith the Disparity was the most unskilful and worst laid some few of those Lands Engross'd by Somerset before were assign'd him by his first Master and that was all Yet Roger Coke opens most violently upon this Account and with an odd kind of Arithmetick will consider what he received by his many great Places without taking notice it was all Expended in the same Service To be sure one of our Historians saith he died 60000 l. in Debt and whoever Audited his Estate then considering he married an Heir General of the House of Rutland who was a very great Fortune will find that Sir Edward Coke and several of that Robe since have left greater Revenues than this Duke did of his own Acquiring The foremention'd Roger Coke tells another idle Story which I shall mention here tho it reflects chiefly upon the Good King which was that Spiteful Fellow 's greatest Satisfaction viz. How he design'd first a Sumptuous Funeral for this Duke his Favourite from which the Lord Treasurer Weston put him off by saying a Monument would be more lasting and less cost And when the King afterwards press'd for the Monument the Wary Treasurer diverted him from that by representing how ill it would hear in the World should the Duke's be Erected before there was one for his Father This Faithful Roger relates as a great Secret which he had from a Learned Gentleman well acquainted with the Transactions of those Times whereas it was a Common-fame Story every where whispered by the Faction and so secret that Mr. Hamond Le Strange was impos'd upon to put it into his History and is reply'd to be Sir William Saunderson for that mistake who must know better being all that time the Duke's Domestick and assures us he was Sumptuously intomb'd at Westminster which his Executors paid for and it cost not the King a Penny nor the stately Monument Erected over his Grave This Passage tho somewhat out of Course I could not but here insert as an exact Specimen of Fanatick Sincerity what Secrets they Detect and Truths relate Well now we have done with Favorites for Buckingham being fatally cut off the King made no one Person his Confident but equally consulted the Ablest and best Principled Men he could find thoroughout the Kingdom who were equally Maligned and Persecuted to Death by a Virulent Party because they studied the peace and welfare of the Nation were for every thing to run in its proper Channel the Laws duly Administred to the People and the King's Occasions Honourably supply'd without Suggesting Fears and Hunting after Grievances the Mormo's of disaffected and designing Spirits For sometime in King Iame's Reign there was a cursed Distinction started of a Court and Country Party which kept the House divided most implacably in that and this following Reign of Charles the I. for I shall descend no further and several honest well-meaning Gentlemen like so many Barnabas's were led away by the Dissimulation of such as promoted it whereas in all well-settled Times the King was look'd upon as the Common Father of the Country and had constantly a select Number of Understanding Men knowing the World and well practis'd in Business to sit in Council and assist him in keeping things Right or bringing them so when wrong But then Enacting of Laws Raising of Mony and several other Ardua Regni are to be consulted of and consented to in Parliament where the foremention'd Privy
Generation as besides their many Abettors amongst the Common People were not unprovided of some in the House of Commons which Mr. Cambden tells us the Queen took Notice of and much dislik'd their unquiet Humor greedy of Novelty and forward to root up things well Established to prevent which for the future she commanded the Severity of the Laws to be every where put in Execution And sometime after procured two New Acts one against the Papists and another against the Puritans on purpose to restrain the insolency of both Factions and by which several of them were afterwards adjudg'd to Death But such Turbulent Spirits are not so easily quell'd the same Historian continues the Complaint in a following Parliament 85. But nothing so much irritated her great Mind as their Villanous Deportment in 88. for thinking they had the Queen at an Advantage upon the Rumor of a Foreign Invasion beset her with greater Importunities than ever and play'd their Affairs with so much Confidence as if of Confederacy with the Spaniard never as Cambden goes on with the Complaint did contumacious Impudency and contumelious Malepertness advance it self more insolently giving an account what Scandalous Books they writ Belching forth such Calumnies and Reproaches therein as the Authors seem'd rather to be Scullions in a Kitchen than followers of Piety The present Course she thought fit to take with such unnatural Beautifeus was only to secure some of the most busy and chief amongst them in Wisbich Castle where many of the leading Papists were likewise secur'd But as soon as that Storm was over she resolv'd upon a more effectual Course to keep a constant Calm at home for in Feb. 92. a Parliament was call'd amongst other things to Enact such Laws as might restrain those Insolencies wherewith the Patience of the State had been so long exercis'd Wherein the Puckering's Speech to both Houses of Parliament is very Remarkable which amongst other things lets them know that they were Especially commanded by her Majesty to take heed that no ear be given nor time afforded to the wearysom Solicitations of those that commonly be called Puritans wherewithall the last Parliaments have been exceedingly importun'd which sort of Men whilst in the Giddyness of their Spirit they labor and strive to advance a new Eldership they do nothing else but disturb the good repose of the Church and Commonwealth And as the Case standeth it may be doubted whether they or the Iesuit do offer more danger or be more speedily to be redress'd with much more to the same purpose even Prophetical of the Mischiefs they have since produc'd Hereupon followed that formidable Act Tricesimo Quinto Elizabethae which was so closely hook'd into the Nostrils of this Spiritual Leviathan as though frequently endeavour'd they were never able to get it out till they had at one desperate Plunge freed themselves from all Regal Power as well as Ecclesiastical Discipline To be sure the remaining ten Years of this great Queen's Reign the swelling Humor of that haughty Faction was so taken down as they never made the least effort towards those Innovations either in Church or State which had been so uneasy to the Government before and so Fatal since In this Excellent Posture and Regular Subordination did this Prudent Princess leave an exact and practicable Model of the English Monarchy that her Successor as I observ'd before did not tread in the same steps take the same care and shew the like Courage Hinc Illae Lachrymae For coming to the Crown with a General Applause on every Side it was never considered that the brightest Sun-rise is soonest intercepted by a Cloud that Hosanna's from the Vulgar as well Great as Small naturally run into the contrary extream unless that Mercury of theirs be fix'd by such a well weigh'd Politick as knows how to temper them in both It was likewise no small Prejudice to our English Church that the King came accompanied with so great a Retinue of his own Country whose Kirk-Leven put our Puritans into a fresh Ferment made them Swell and Domineer with their usual insolence upon the least Countenance of Connivance from such as are in Power or have an Interest in the Government Upon this account I cannot but take Notice of a Passage in Hacket's Life printed before his Sermons He was born of Scotch Parents dwelling in London during the Queen's Time They were both true Protestants great Lovers of the Church of England constantly repairing to the Divine Prayers and Service thereof and would often bewail to their young Son after the coming in of their Country-men with King James the seed of Fanaticism then laid in the Scandalous neglect of the Publick Liturgy which all the Queen's time was exceedingly frequented the People then resorting as Devoutly to Prayers as they would afterwards to hear any famous Preacher about Town And his Aged Parents often observ'd to him that Religion towards God Iustice and Love amongst Neighbours gradually declin'd with the disuse of our Publick Prayers This Observation was made at first which we have since seen Fatally verify'd and cursedly Improv'd It was likewise no small prejudice to the Interest of our English Church that a Scotch Peer Top'd an Archbishop upon her no ways qualify'd with parts or principles for so great a Trust The Story stands thus Upon Bancroft's Death such as wish'd well to the Church Bishops and other great Men about Court recommended Bishop Andrews a Person every way unexceptionable to the King who approv'd so well of him as they thought their Business fix'd and neglected to press it further when the Earl of Dunbar a powerful Minister with the King saith my Author put in for his quondam Chaplain Abbot and got the King's Hand for passing the Instrument before the Matter was discover'd and then too late to prevent God grant Scotch Peers may never more recommend English Prelates Indeed the less any of them have to do with our Church the better although in this great Time of Tryal amongst them where all Religious Order is run into Enthusiasm and Madness there are several have signalis'd themselves with a Zeal truly Primitive not only to the spoyling their Goods but the loss of all their Fortunes and of some of their Lives For our New Metropolitan when in Place he fell very much short of what his own Admirers expected to be sure his Remiss Government and unexcusable Partiality towards the Puritans neglecting all those worthy Methods his two Predecessors Whitgift and Bancroft had prosecuted introduc'd those many Desolations Fractions and Schisms which the Church hath not yet and 't is a Question whether will be ever able to weather for whilst several worthy Prelates in his Time and his Successor who next came in Place endeavour'd to continue or revive such Articles Injunctions and Canons as had been fram'd in Q. Elizabeth's Time and to reduce the Church to the same Order and Regimen in which Abbot found it These forsooth must
Divinity wherein the Sabbath was not press'd upon the Consciences of God's People with as much Violence as formerly with Authority upon the Iews and from the same Obligations To give one Instance of many how Prevalent this Humour was Mr. Breerwood a very learned and judicious Person Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College had the Charge of an Orphan his Brother's Son whom he plac'd Apprentice in London where he continued two Years with much Satisfaction both to himself and Master but then grew very uneasy and earnest to be discharg'd the Reason whereof after some fained Excuses his Uncle discovered to be for that his Master on the Lord's Day had sent him forth sometimes on Arrands as to bid Guests fetch Wine give his Horse Provender or such like light Business all which one Mr. Byfield a popular Preacher at Chester when lately there had inform'd him to be a Sin a Trangression of God's Commandment touching the Sabbath and that he was not bound to yield nay that he sin'd against God in yielding Obedience to his Master's Commands this produc'd a learned Letter from the Uncle to Mr. Byfield which is since Printed with an Answer and Reply wherein the whole Question is exactly Stated upon what different Obligations the Iews and Christians observ'd their different Days that theirs amongst other Rites as St. Paul terms it Col. 2. 17. Was but a Shadow of things to come whereof the Body was in Christ or as he express'd himself farther on Only a Tenure for term of Life namely that of the Ceremonial Law which Life ended in the death of our Saviour and the Lord's day succeeded thereupon As it was not known or practis'd before Moses so it ceased to oblige after Christ being one of the Shadows which the Evangelical Light dispell'd one of the Burthens which this Law of Liberty takes off From whence it follows according to what I propounded 2 dly That these Sabbatarian Speculations are inconsistent with the Nature and Practice of Christian Religion for the Priesthood being chang'd there is made also of necessity a change of the Law as the Apostle tells us different ends of Institution and different ways of Observation the Iews were more especially enjoyn'd a Corporal Rest in Commemoration of their Temporal Deliverance the Christians main regard must be Spiritual after the Power of an endless Life and therefore what the Evangelical Prophet Isaiah declares as to the Sabbath Isa. 56. 2. Blessed is the Man that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and keepeth his Hand from doing any evil hath by all the Fathers and from them most of the Moderns been understood by way of Prediction as to Gospel Times what at leastwise they ought to be St. Ierom is most express Alioquin si haec tantum prohibentur in Sabbato ergo in aliis sex diebus tribuitur nobis libert as delinquendi for otherwise if those things therein remembred are prohibited only on the Sabbaths then were it Lawful for us on the other Days to follow our own Sinful Courses speak our own idle Words and pursue our own Voluptuous Pleasures which were most Foolish to imagin And St. Augustine makes the 4th Commandment so far as it concerns us Christians to be no more than Requies cordis tranquilitas mentis quam facit bona Conscientia the quiet of the Heart and peace of Mind proceeding from a good Conscience and therefore it hath been well resolv'd by some that a Christian's Life should be one continued Sabbath he that lives every day as he ought hath little or no Obligation to observe one Day more than another but what between Idleness and Business Mankind was never Ingenious enough to be left at his own Freedom As for the Idle part God forgive them their many Extravagancies and more especially neglect of Holy Duties on the Six Days and let the severest Penalty attend their Violation of the Seventh And it were well if our Men of Business would consider how much that might be forwarded by sparing some little of their busy Time to implore God's Blessing upon their Business But to run into so gross a mistake as to think a strict Attendance upon Ordinances on the Sabbath Day may expiate for the Frauds Extortions and other Violations of the precedent Week is intollerable yet some are prone to suspect such a Delusion is not without Entertainment amongst many of the most seemingly Precise however 't is God alone and their own Consciences must judge herein it were well on the other side they would be less severe in Censuring others especially those we here plead for who are only the Drudging part of Mankind such Labourers Apprentices and other Servants as have let their other six Days time to Hire and are all that while at other Mens disposal that these after all due performance of Religious Offices should be allowed such innocent Diversions both of Body and Mind as their Inclinations tend most unto cannot but be thought reasonable and accordingly the Christian Church never interpos'd any Command to the contrary Here then come in their Majesties Declarations and more especially relate to the foremention'd Circumstances upon a prudent Consideration as King Charles saith of his Father That if these Times were taken from them the meaner sort who labour hard all the Week should have no Recreations at all to refresh their Spirits neither was there less of Prudence and Consideration in the several Limitations of this Innocent Freedom as First that no lawful Recreations be us'd as the Laws of the Kingdom and Canons of the Church prohibit for some such it seems there were as particularly Bowling to meaner sort of People 2dly That this Liberty be not taken till after Divine Service nor 3dly That any enjoy it but such as are present at the Performance thereof We may here likewise add the reasons given why the Declarations came out at those particular Times which if well weighed cannot be excepted against As first the Advantage the Papists took thereby to discourage People from coming into or continuing in our Church by perswading them that no honest Mirth or Recreations were tolerated in our Religion And this indeed gave the first occasion to King Iames who in his Progress through Lancashire received several Complaints thereof and having inform'd himself how justly gave a Check to the precise Humour of such Iustice over-does as stretched the Laws beyond their proper Intent and true Reason of the thing whereto likewise agrees what the judicious Sanderson tells us that in Lancashire more especially the Rigid froward Disposition of the Puritans oblig'd many of the Common People to continue if not turn Papists between which two Parties that County was mostly divided Another Reason given is for that this Prohibition barreth the common and meaner sort of People from using such Exercise as may make their Bodies more able for War when we or our Successors shall have occasion for as it goes on When shall the Common People
have leave to Exercise if not upon the Sundays and Holy Days seeing they must apply their Labour and win their Living in all working Days All which in no more than their Common Practice at Geneva as hath been already mention'd and it ought further to be consider'd so strict a Confinement from all Diversions of Body and Mind cannot but by degrees oppress and darstardise Men's Spirits of English Mastiffs make them in the end become Setting-Dogs to some Foreign Power To these King Charles adds a 3d. The rather because of late in some Counties of the Kingdom we find that under pretence of taking away abuses there hath been a general Forbidding not only of ordinary Meetings but of the Feasts of the Dedication of the Churches c. which besides preserving the Memorial thereof as he was certainly inform'd tended very much to Civilising the People composing of Differences by the Mediation of Friends encreasing Love and Unity by those Feasts of Charity with Relief and Comfort to the Poor the Richer part in a manner keeping open House Although what is mention'd just before in this Corroborating part of King Charles might probably prevail more with him than all the rest viz. Out of a Pious Care for the Service of God and for suppressing any Humors that oppose Truth being too sensible how those judaising Dogmatists by inculcating to the People a strict and sole Observance of this Legal Institution design'd thereby to exclude all those Christian Feasts and Festivals which have been constantly Commemorated ever since the Gospel was Preach'd to Mankind as the Birth Passion Resurrection and Ascension of Christ with the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles by which Miraculous Gifts Almighty God impowr'd them to Preach the Gospel to the whole World bringing Life and Immortality to Light and the Church accordingly hath ever pay'd a thankful Acknowledgment of those their indefatigable Labors Exemplary Lives and Cruel Deaths till these Enemies to all Antiquity as well as Order and Gratitude must have them superseded by such Iewish Observances as neither they nor their Fathers were able to bear And it was much to my Surprise that when some late Acts pass'd for the more strict observing the Lord's Day the Fathers of our Church when it came into their House did not endeavour at least that some little regard might be had to the foremention'd Fasts and Festivals the Canon took care to joyn them all together for due Celebration of Sundays and Holy Days and God forgive those who conniv'd at a Separation such an Omission could not have pass'd in Charles the 1 st Time and one would think their proceedings then should be Matter of greater Caution now for having dar'd to lift up their Hands against that true Defender they stuck at nothing which might hinder a thorough Reformation began indeed at the Holy Days but Liturgy and Bishops soon follow'd To give one Instance of many how cursedly they affected to run Counter against whatever our Church did practise when in the Heat of the Rebellion Christmas Day fell on a Sunday as it must in Course every four or five Years that Coryphaeus of the Faction old Calamy lest he should be thought to regard the Festival of our Saviour's Nativity preach'd upon a Passion Text. Eli Eli Lamasabachthani How violent a Current we have bene dar'd to Stem is neither our Ignorance nor our Fear Truth is a Rock which repels the Force at the same time it causes their Noise and Foamings Yet not to be mistaken herein which is very Natural for them to do I shall most readily comply in the strictest Observation of the Lord's Day they can think fit to prescribe provided it be upon a Christian not Iewish Bottom and with a due Deference to what the Wise and Good have in the best Ages of the Church resolv'd therein Otherwise to make Exclamations and enveigh against every one who will not walk by their killing Letter of the Law hath too great Affinity to those Pharisaical Rigours which were continually carping at and Censuring our Saviour for the many Miracles he wrought on the Sabbath Day whilst their hard and impenitent Hearts could not understand what that meant I will have Mercy not Sacrifice as likewise that the Sabbath was made for Man not Man for the Sabbath And that the many Reproaches rais'd against the two forementioned Princes upon their sincere Endeavours for a right Information herein as well as their other good Deeds for the House of God and Offices thereof proceeded from the like perverse Disposition of Spirit can be little doubted by any one who reflects how exactly they parallell'd the Iews in Murdering the one and continue still most implacable against the Memories of both CHAP. XI Of Ship-Money WHen a Man hath a Subject will bear an Argument and is sure of an easy and ready Attention to run out into bitter Invectives and false Suggestions argues as great a defect of Judgment as good Nature to be sure nothing has rais'd a stronger Suspicion of this Prince's sincere Intentions amongst the soberest and best disposed People in the Nation than his Levying Ship-Money which therefore Ludlow might have kept close to without continuing his Excursions against the Clergy but they must answer for all to which end he tells That divers of them entred the List as Champions of the Prerogative asserting that the Possessions and Estates of the Subjects did of Right belong to the King and that he might dispose of them at Pleasure thereby Vacating and Annulling as much as in them lay All the Laws of England that secure a Propriety to the People p. 5. Now to prove or make appear one Syllable of this Virulent Charge is beneath the Authority of his Memoirs 't will pass with the Party upon his Word and whoever affirms nay proves the contrary shall be no more credited by them than they will be at the Last Day The Iesuits where they have Power are not more severe in their Inquisitions than our well-scented Demagogues upon all Transactions of the Loyal Clergy yet excepting those few indiscreet Expressions of Sibthorp and Manwaring which has been already spoke to they could find nothing else worth catching hold of otherwise we should not have been so often hit in the Teeth with them two 'T is true the Clergy all along stood firm to the Prerogative and thought themselves bound both in Duty and Interest to support it's just Rights against the many Invasions every Day attempted to that and the Kingdoms Ruin which Steadiness and Resolution of theirs was the pretended Crime and grand Motive for those little Crorespondents with the Prince of the Air to raise and procure so many Storms against them But that they had any Thoughts of stretching the Prerogative beyond its due Bounds much less of Annulling all nay any of the Laws of England none but a Republican Confidence could affirm and hath no more of Truth than that Ludlow was an
Admonition could move no Reasons or Perswasions prevail when the Time was so far spent that they had put an impossibility upon themselves to perform their Promise whereof they esteemed all Gracious Messages to them to be but Interruptions His Majesty upon mature Advisement dissolv'd them This is the Account the King himself gives in his Declaration of their unkind Dealing and his too just Provocation for that Act otherways would they have comply'd with him in those his urgent Necessities there should have been no Obstruction upon the Duke's Account they might have gon on with their Articles and been certainly Baffled as to that of King Iames's Death and perhaps most of the rest But I must not break off here without my promis'd Remark upon the Defence who by adding another most Impossible Story renders that aforemention'd yet more Improbable There are few will believe because he brings none That for many Reasons it was concluded King Charles had no small share in that abominable Act of Poysoning his own Father King James I. But to add and that Good Man Prince Henry his Son is such a Stretch as nothing but one by a Halter can keep pace with and they deserve to go together That Prince Henry was thought to have something of foul Play Sir W's Libel does insinuate but no Man of Sense or History ever believed a Syllable thereof and that Answer Intituled Aulicus Coquinariae clearly makes appear it was right down Libel that is absolutely false and as there was no ground to place it where Sir A's Baseness design'd so for this unthinking Blockhead to transfer it upon that poor innocent Child his Brother let the most prejudic'd Fanatick judge when told that at Henry's Death this his younger Brother was not Twelve Years Old having been all along of a weak unhealthy Constitution liv'd a Studious retir'd Life with very little Conversation but that of Books and Tutors which was indeed of great Advantage to his future Accomplishments but kept him then from making any Figure at Court or entring upon any Intrigue there which the most Active Princes of that Age have seldom been known to engage in much less to carry on such an Unnatural Enterprize Yet doubtless this is as true as the other and whoever for the Time to come relate either may the same Fate attend them as did Horace's Planus a Lying Cheat not to be believ'd when they speak Truth tho their Lives depend thereupon Nulla fides damnis verisque doloribus adsit Roger Coke hath another the prettyest Maggotty Reason to prove King Iames could not dye a Natural Death because all the five James 's his Predecessors in Scotland were carryed off otherwise I will not concern my self with what was done in Scotland but dare be the Courts Compurgator for all of that Family which have dy'd since it came into England although none have gon off without some such ill-natur'd and ill-grounded Suggestion I wish I could say as much for the Parliament or rather a Rump of it which out-did whatever hath been done in Scotland or any where else upon the Face of the whole Earth And further to provoke Divine Vengeance we have got a Generation of Villains which at this Hour dare to justify it and no Notice taken thereof Nay these eager Blood-hounds are so delighted with that sort of Game as when they cannot come at it themselves will needs have it done by others for so it was confidently mutter'd of the last which went off by Death and if God curse us with continuing this Set of Men will pass for an Authentick Story 50 or 60 Years hence it was enough at present to found it in a Whisper especially since the Physicians and amongst them Dr. L a great Confident of theirs declar'd that upon inspecting the Brain there was so clear Evidence of an Apoplexy as 't was impossible to think of any other Cause However there is nothing Extraordinary in all this besides the grosseness of the Fiction there are few Historians relate the Death of Princes without something of a real or imaginary Force But to bury them alive by Supposititious Births is altogether Modern an Advance of this present Age with how much Interest or Honour the next may Judge CHAP. XIII His Government before the Rebellion THese be the most tho' not all for all it is impossible to Enumerate and therefore let it be all the most considerable Exceptions false Clamors and frontless Cavils wherewith the wide-mouth'd Factions blackned the King and Trumpetted up Rebellion into which dismal and bloody Scene before we enter Let us take a general View of his Government during the Twelve Years Interstitium or if you will Interregnum of Parliaments for they were never quiet till Supream and then least of all where we shall find this true Father of his Country so tenderly Provident for a crooked and perverse Generation Nurtur'd them up in so much Peace and Plenty such a continued Affluence of all Things requisite to Humane Welfare as never any Nation enjoy'd a greater and very few have equall'd them therein That he Hated or had any Prejudice against Parliaments is so far from being True as if there were any Mistake it appear'd rather at First on the other Side he Caress'd them a little too much To be sure it was by his Inducement the Duke of Bucks made that Narrative relating to the Spanish Match and Treaty to both Houses of Parliament in Iames's Last whereto as occasion serv'd he gave his Attestation which so pleas'd their Popular aspiring Humour as the Duke was then the Whitest Boy and his Master the Hopefullest Prince in the World And he doubtless intended to have gon on in that Sincere plain-dealing Way represented Things as they really were and expected they should have met him half Way in all reasonable Returns But his more Experienc'd Father understood better told them both how short-liv'd such Caresses would be as they should find too soon Which immediately upon his coming to the Crown most Prophetically fell out in his first Parliament where making a small Complement of Two Subsidies they return'd to their Old Vomit Evil Counsellors Grievances and the like must be the only Subject of Debate after which they made so strict a Search as such another Set of Busy Men according to the Latin Adage would for a Knot in a Bulrush yet hereupon the Breach so gradually widned Three several Parliaments as to part at last in a final Separation Whereunto after all is say'd never Prince had greater or juster Provocation Nevertheless I cannot find in his Proclamation set out upon the last Dissolution or any where else that it was declared Criminal for the People to speak any more of Parliaments as Ludlow with his usual Impudence affirms p. 2. The King as I say'd finding the Factions so prevalent in all Elections as it was impossible to get a Parliament would either hearken to Reason or Act with Temper
Impertinency he continues But recollecting himself a little he put on his Scarf and other Furniture and went to the King where having read the Common-Prayer and one of his old Sermons he Administred the Sacrament to him c. pag. 282. Could any thing like a Christian or indeed a Man play the Buffoon at so silly a rate upon so solemn and sad an Occasion Whether the Sermon was old or not is more than he knows to be sure it was very much to the Purpose that is of the final Iudgment when God shall judge the Secrets of all Men by Iesus Christ whereat had Ludlow or any of his Confederates been there is no doubt but their guilty Souls would have Trembled as much as Felix did but withal too persever'd as little in their Recognitions With like impious Contempt he reflects upon the Holy Sacrament most ignorantly cavils at and as profanely Ridicules it a true Saint of the new Edition above Ordinances in their Lives and without them at their Deaths according to that great Author in the Book of Wisdom As for the Mysteries of God they knew them not neither hoped they for the Wages of Righteousness nor discerned a Reward for blameless Souls 'T is represented likewise according to his no Understanding of such Religious Preparations as if all these Holy Offices were hudled together on that fatal last Day whereas the Bishop was with the King on Saturday had the Sermon and Sacrament on Sunday where Mr. Herbert the only Person they permitted to attend his Majesty was another Communicant with them however the foolish Fellow flouts and considers not what Dispensations are allow'd upon such sad Necessities But since he is for relating Circumstances as to this worthy Prelate's holy Performances there is one which tho all good Men must be well acquainted with ought never to be omitted when upon this Subject viz. That the last Lesson his Majesty heard read in that Morning Office of his Suffering was the History of our Saviour's Passion in the 27 th of Matth. which he suppos'd the Bishop had made Choice of as most applicable to his present Condition till he otherwise inform'd him that it was the proper Lesson for the Day as appear'd by the Kalender wherewith saith Mr. Herbert then present his Majesty was much Affected and doubtless received great Consolation thereby Others have gon further and made several Parallels between their Sufferings which I shall only mention in general that as there was never a more barbarous Act since that Lord of Life was Crucified so neither a more Innocent Soul through his Merits and Satisfaction assum'd into the Regions of Bliss So that a certain Lord upon the Seaffold the Noble Capel I think it was had great Reason to say that if he were to wish his Soul in any ones stead it should be in his and Sit anima mea cum Carolo Heaven cannot be so if he be not there And therefore to take my leave of this worst of Men Ludlow it shall be in the Words of the foremention'd Author of the Book of Wisdom where declaring that the Souls of the Righteous are in the Hands of God however in the Sight of the unwise and wicked they seem'd to die he adds For though they be punished in the sight of Man yet is their hope full of Immortality And having been a little chastised they shall be greatly rewarded for God proved them and found them worthy for himself This strange and never before heard of Procedure against the Sacred Person of their Monarch being thus accomplish'd and in him the Ancient Monarchy of England totally Subverted our Author is too intent upon their new Project of Liberty-Keeping to persue his Calumnies any further and therefore relating how his Body was Interred at Windsor by some Good Men Noble and Worthy Persons who attended it thither he might have added the Lamentation made over it not only by them but the whole Kingdom thorough for doubtless never was there greater for any Prince in the World whether as I said from the many Designs his projecting Head was carrying on or to shew that Humanity had not totally Abdicated his Breast he lets it rest there without farther Disturbance But that pitiful Fellow Roger Coke was so Spiteful as to rake into those Sacred Ashes and not permit so much as the Grave to give them rest Can any thing be more base than to reflect that the Office of our Church was not suffer'd to be read at his Enterment A Man of Sense of Virtue and Loyalty might have been justly severe upon the Governor who refus'd so innocent a Request but his Majesty's very Memory must be thereby the more Eminent in that their Baseness persued him so far as not to permit his dead Corps the External Rites of Religion And as he was buried without an Office so his next Insult is that he lies without a Monument and thereupon relates how the Commons had Voted 50. he saith but 't was really 70000 l. for the Charge of taking up the King's Body with making a Solemn Funeral and Monument which yet came to nothing Whereto he Maliciously adds that 't was said his Son forbid it which indeed was likely to be said for Lying with Whiggism began about that Time to be much in Vogue and several Plots there were on Foot to serve the Son as they had done the Father but the People were not then mad enough to follow their Lure and it was the Old Loyal Party and Principle which preserv'd the King at that Time But for the 70000 l. in order to a Monument the true Account stands thus That Session in which it was Voted rose in some Heat without passing any Bills whereby this amongst the rest was Obstructed And at their next Meeting their continu'd Heats cool'd this worthy Design the rather for that a certain busy Female assum'd the Honor of having it first mov'd Although 't is likewise probable that the Old Faction which with their young Spawn began about this Time to be very busy in the House might not be wanting to put by so ungrateful a Memorial of their Villany And thus the Court was too justly repaid for the Care they took at the Restauration to Sweeten the Sowr-humor'd Fanatick and amongst other things that their Consciences should not be over-jogg'd by too many Remembrances of this Eternal Reproach which though an Indempnity pardon'd no Oblivion will ever be able to deface and this occasion'd a worthy Divine in this Critical Juncture most eminently deserving of the English Church preaching at White-Hall upon that cursed Day to tell them freely They had added to his Ignominy by Burying his Funeral To be sure had the least motion for a Monument been made in those early Days it would have pass'd without Control but in that Juncture we were mighty fearful of offending those who could never be oblig'd Dr. Donne in that odd Poem of his The Progress of the Soul when